The Thursday Thesis - 17/08/2017 Whenever you are thinking of a new goal or trying to achieve a little more, here’s a stupid-simple way to surprise yourself with a great idea. I call it the 20 Questions, and it involves (wait for it!) asking yourself twenty questions and writing down whatever comes to mind. But here’s the clever bit – every single one of the twenty questions is the same. How simple is that? So, let’s suppose that want to make more money... Ask yourself “what can I do to make more money, right now?” and write down your answer. How about stopping smoking? Ask yourself “what can I do instead of lighting a cigarette?” Now repeat the process. Keep going until you have your 20 answers. I promise you this: the first 10-12 answers will be obvious because the easy answers come first. The good stuff happens after about the 12th question, the target of 20 (or 30, or 40...) compels you to keep thinking, and this is where you begin to find creative answers. However crazy your answers become, don’t stop until you have your 20 answers. Genius lies just beyond crazy, in my opinion. Go and try it, right now – you know you want to, don’t you? And don’t stop at crazy. © Neil Cowmeadow 2017
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The Thursday Thesis - 10/08/2017
It is always 99% easy. Yes, easy: the hard work, day in, day out, that produces the bulk of a project - that is the easy part. The problem is always that last 1%. At university the last 1% was submitting the assignments; today it is publishing a finished book or piece of music. You’d think it would be easy to just press the button and breathe, wouldn’t you? It isn’t easy - the fear contained in that last 1% can paralyse even the strongest person. But that last 1% is all that stands between the work and the audience: the people we wrote, composed, worked and dreamed for. In soccer, it’s the last 1% that makes all the difference. Between a goal and a miss, between winning and losing – that’s the 1%. If the ball never crosses the line – the game ends in a nil-nil draw: that’s all that gets written on the score-sheet. In life, it’s the 1% that sorts out the wannabes from the gonnabes; those who succeed and complete the job, and those who give up on the one-yard line. What’s the point in writing the world’s best novel, symphony, pop song or movie script if it sits, forever in your desk drawer or lurks in an obscure folder of your hard drive, unread, unheard, unsung and unseen? To paraphrase Oliver Wendell Holmes: “the tragedy of the average man is that he goes to his grave with his music still inside him”. The last 1% is the showdown between hope and fear. And fear fights to kill. Game on! © Neil Cowmeadow 2017 Please Like and Share The Thursday Thesis with your friends, family, your cat and anyone else. I’d love to hear your comments, along with any ideas you’d care to hurl at me. The Thursday Thesis - 2/8/2017
It’s that time of year again: when millions of us Brits pack our bags and head off for a week or two on our annual summer holiday. For some of us it’s a chance to bake our brains on the beach of a tropical paradise; for others it’s seeing the sights of one or other of the great cities of the world. Either of those holidays might appeal to you, or it might be something else again: we’re all different. But I’m not a fan. I don’t like lying on beaches, bar-hopping, playing golf every day or... well, just about anything that takes me away from teaching, learning and my work. Ok, I confess: I don’t like holidays very much – period. To me (and I’m not the only weirdo out there) there’s something odd about “escaping” from my work for a couple of weeks. This is one of the downsides of doing what you love for a living, and wanting to do it all the time. Now, I’m not sure if this is a problem. We’ll see. According to a recent survey, 84% of Brits don’t enjoy their job. That means that for 84% of the population, getting away from it all is a great idea: they’ve worked for it, they’ve earned it, and by golly they need it. And I still remember how it felt, when I was in the wrong job: my colleagues and I worked dutifully for most of the year in the jobs we didn’t enjoy in order to afford the things we wanted – including our hoidays abroad. At the time it didn’t strike me as odd: it’s what we did, and nobody challenged it. We planned our escapes for months, worked overtime to pay for it, and bitched about going back to work afterwards. But these days I have to be dragged, kicking and screaming to the airport. There’s something peculiar (at least to my addled brain) in absenting myself from my son, the work I love and the people I get to do it with, in order to do things I don’t enjoy anywhere near as much. Perhaps I’m odd, perhaps it just means that I am doing what I should be doing – perhaps I’m just a grumpy git who hates his routines being disrupted – who knows? I wish I’d known - I wish someone had told me - that when your work is your play, and your vocation feels like your vacation, you’ll never work a day in your life. Happy holidays! © Neil Cowmeadow 2017 Love Overload...
The Thursday Thesis - 27/07/2017 It’s a funny thing, but most people complain of being overloaded – you, yourself, might even think it’s a bad thing. You would – of course – be wrong. Every piece of research I’ve ever read suggests that Overload is a Good Thing – with capitals! Here’s how it works: every time you overload a muscle it suffers damage. But our bodies adapt to that damage and overcompensate: they seem to assume we’ll do the same stupid thing again and provide us with more muscle in a bid to protect us from future damage. A similar process occurs in our brains, that trembling network of connections and cells. Use it, push it, load it up and it will begin to morph into a faster and better brain. The process even has an expensive-sounding name: neuroplasticity. So we are built to grow, but it takes the threat of damage and a crisis situation to trigger that growth – it’s all tied in to our innate fight or flight response to danger. No crisis, no growth. So it’s essential that we do things that Overload and scare us: how else can we develop and grow stronger? I’m currently training to improve my public speaking abilities, which are already pretty good. But what’s fascinating to watch is how I and the other trainees smash through our fear and emerge unscathed. Within three days, one lady went from Overload and total meltdown to confident speaker: a little more practice and she’ll be rocking the house down. How did she get there? Incrementally doing a little more, a little more, a little more... Things stuck, ideas gelled, words tumbled... Do a bit, add a bit, do a bit more. Now repeat. Rest and sleep complete the process. I love Overload, so give me more, more, more! © Neil Cowmeadow 2017 Remember to Like and Share The Thursday ThoughtCast with your friends, family, and anyone else. I’d love to hear your comments, along with any ideas you’d care to hurl at me. Neil@cowtownguitars.net . The Thursday Thesis - 20/07/2017 The very excellent Angi Magic’s favourite word is “Outrageous!” – with an exclamation mark. And, a couple of days ago, I got to thinking about setting some “Outrageous!” and unreasonable goals for myself – wondering what I could do to power-up my productivity and catalyse myself into action. I asked myself “How can I share what I teach - music, guitar, happiness, and all the rest - with the 7 billion or so people I can’t work with face to face?” After one too many espressos it dawned on me that if I got my sorry arse into the chair every single day and wrote for a couple of hours every single day, I could probably finish a book a month – that would be a start, wouldn’t it? Outrageous! Unreasonable? Do-able? Let’s see... I already have over 140 outlines and/or ideas for books sitting on my hard-drive, where they are doing no good at all and helping nobody. My “Outrageous!” Idea looks like a great plan to get them off the drive and into ink... It’ll keep me busy for the next few years, at least. I’m up for the challenge, and I realise that going public with my “Outrageous!” goal is going to nail my backside down: if I miss a deadline, I know I’m going to hear about. Going public with your own Goals and Ambitions might just light a rocket under you, too. The poet, Mary Oliver asks, in one of her works, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” But don’t tell me – tell the people who will inspire you to do it, and who’ll hold you to account if you don’t. © Neil Cowmeadow 2017
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The Thursday Thesis - 13/07/2017 “Go into The Silence...” These days, everyone is so “Connected”, our phones are on 24/7, we’re on Wi-Fi wherever we go, and we can stream music, video, and social media almost anywhere. But what are we actually connected to? In becoming more and more a node on a network, have we lost touch with ourselves? Have we, ourselves, become the small voice lost in the babble and roar of the crowd? And have we lost the Art of Solitude: the pleasure of being singular? As we have become more and more bombarded by media messages, constant connectivity and the social pressure to conform, what place is there for Solitude? Now I’m talking about Solitude, here – not loneliness – but the contented state of being quietly by oneself. You will be thought odd if you dare to turn off the phone and go invisible, kill the radio, get the hell away from the toxic telly and go into the silence of Solitude. Can you hear them saying “Are you ok? It’s not normal to be alone...” as though there was some kind of problem in you valuing yourself enough to step off the conveyor-belt of conformity and just be by yourself? Ah, Solitude – my wordless companion in stretching moonlight shadows and whispering winds; passionate mistress of the salt-streaked gale on the shore. I long for your silent embrace, your accepting quietude and your caress. Turn off The World, and let me go into The Silence again. Yes, go into The Silence - I dare you... © Neil Cowmeadow 2017
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The Thursday Thesis - 29/06/2017 “Just Don’t...” This week, to celebrate The Thursday Thesis’ first birthday (Happy Birthday, baby) I’d like to share one of the wisest principles of happiness I’ve ever heard. I can’t claim to have originated it, though I wish I had: I got it from my friend and mentor Peter Thomson – the hugely successful author and trainer. You can find out all about Peter at www.PeterThomson.com or watch his take on the core idea of my next book Elephant Sandwiches at http://www.neilcowmeadow.com/testimonials.html Peter’s diamond of wisdom – even better than a pearl – was this: DDWT. Huh? DDWT – what’s that all about? Don’t Deal With Tossers. Simple, isn’t it? To put it another way - decline to work with, live with, associate with, anybody who makes you unhappy. Why? Because there’s no amount of money that you can be paid that can compensate you for being made to feel miserable by someone else. Though Peter gave me that gem as a maxim for business, I think it applies to every area of life. Don’t whine about your idiot boss, your cretinous co-worker, your abusive partner – yada, yada, yada - give ‘em the finger and walk. This also goes for those dysfunctional half-wits and preening wannabees on unreality TV: fire them - DDWT! Life is short – too short – so why agree to be made miserable by someone else whilst you’re still alive? There are 7.5 BILLION people on this planet – it’s not as though there are no other people you could be with. In work, in life, in love, and in general, DDWT: Don’t Deal With Tossers. You know it makes sense, don’t you? © Neil Cowmeadow 2017
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The Thursday Thesis - 22/06/2017
“Your Inner Negative Image...” As we explored in last week’s TT, where your mind goes, your body follows; so let’s continue with that idea, and mull over the way we define ourselves by what we are not – because it’s a huge idea that we say are what we are not. Why should this be true? Hmmm.... It’s that pesky brain, again; playing games and messing with your mind. The problem is that our brains don’t handle negations – not’s, no’s, un’s and the like – very well. Do not think of an elephant. What are you thinking of? Despite being told not to, you are undoubtedly thinking of an elephant. Naughty you. What happened? Were you just contrary, or is there something else at play? The brain has to think of the thing in order to not think of the thing, and the word “elephant” immediately conjures the image of an elephant from your memory – just so that the image can be erased. So what happens when we tell ourselves what we are not, when we tell ourselves we are not lazy, scared, fat or poor? We imagine ourselves as just the things we wish not to be. Nowt as strange as folk, as they say. And that’s why any goal we have for ourselves must be positively stated. It’s why “I’m not poor” won’t end well, whereas “I’m financially successful” will probably do the business. Similarly, “I’m a non-smoker” will be feeble when compared to “I’m healthy and strong, and I breathe clean air into my spotless lungs”. So what are you telling yourself you’re not, every day? Makes you think, doesn’t it?
The Thursday Thesis - 16/06/2017 “Close Your Eyes...” Where your mind goes, your body follows: it’s true for everyone and for everything. And when I’m working with students, this is my favourite demonstration of the importance of mindset. Try it for yourself by listening to the audio version of The Thesis, right now. I ask the student to close their eyes, and start to feel more deeply relaxed. Now I ask them to hold their arms out in front of them at shoulder height with palms upwards. I now tie an imaginary helium balloon around their right wrist, describing how the balloon looks, the colour of the ribbon knotted around their wrist, and I explain that the balloon is lighter than air and will – obviously – begin to lift up their right hand, so there’s no need to resist the rising sensation, because it’s a balloon-thing... Now I ask them to prepare their left hand to support a copy of the Encyclopaedia Brittanica which I’ve just bought from a second-hand bookshop. I describe the book’s binding, the gold lettering on its spine and front, the thickness of the book and how heavy it is as I “place” it onto their uplifted palm. I explain that the book is very, very heavy and old; that it is dusty and that the paper is yellowed by the years. Guess what happens – the “balloon” hand rises, sometimes a little, more often, rather a lot. But the “book” hand sinks downwards, sometimes shaking with the sustained effort of holding up that dusty old tome. When I ask the student to open their eyes, they can see a huge difference in hand position. I ask them which was heavier, the book or the balloon? “The book”, they tell me. “What book?” I ask. There is no book, and there is no balloon. The important point here is that your body will behave according to what we believe to be true. In other words, whatever we believe, that’s how it is for us. So, how do you want it to be, for you? You alone will decide: the book or the balloon. You choose... © Neil Cowmeadow 2017
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The Thursday Thesis - 08/06/2017 “The Imperfect Now ”. “Go, little book...” - Geoffrey Chaucer, when sending his Canterbury Tales out into small World of the 14th Century. Almost 700 years later, people are still reading Chaucer’s “little book”. It is not perfect – but it got written. Not only did it get written, it got published. Anybody who writes or seeks to create something will wrestle with their deep need to be perfect – to make their book, song or creation absolutely faultless. So the book never gets finished, the song remains uncompleted, the dreams of our souls lie, unloved and unfinished, in our hearts and on our hard-drives. I’m learning to say “get over it!” to myself. I’m facing-up to the fact that it will never be perfect, and it doesn’t need to be perfect – it just needs to be finished. People don’t want perfection tomorrow – they want excellent, today. This week I’ll be finishing the edits of my second little book and asking the lovely Rosa to format it. It won’t be perfect, but it will be done. The poems you wrote, the stories you told your kids, the pictures you drew when nobody was around to look at them... Those moments of imperfection are the best of you: cherish them, their imperfections, and their honesty, because they were born in a moment when your fear of failure was looking the other way, and when their being born was all that mattered. Those were moments before fear closed you down. So, today, let go of your need to be perfect, and create something imperfect. © Neil Cowmeadow 2017
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The Thursday Thesis - 1/06/2017 “The Myth of the Half-Full Glass” As almost everyone knows, you can tell if someone is an optimist or a pessimist by showing them a glass half-full of your drink. “Is this glass half-full or half-empty?” goes the old saw. Conventional wisdom reckons that an optimist will tell you the glass is half-full, whilst a pessimist will gloomily tell you that the glass is half empty. Oh, you have to love pessimists – those Eeyore-like souls who potter around looking for the bad in everything and everyone. Now, here’s the thing: looking for the bad prevents you from looking for the good. Pessimists are so preoccupied with the search for Bad Stuff that the Good Stuff slips past, unnoticed... Does that make sense to you? When you Google for “cats on skateboards” how many suspension bridges show up in your search results? It’s simple, isn’t it? We see the World exactly how we think it is, whether we think it’s a battlefield or a playpen – that’s how it is for us. And that glass - what if it’s actually full of wee? Notice how being half-empty just became a Good Thing? With enough mischief and playfulness we can reframe everything, with a tiny effort. “What’s good about this?” produces a different response than “What’s bad about this?” “What’s funny about this?” gets more laughs than “What’s serious about this?” Get the idea? Different questions produce different answers, different responses, and – ultimately – a different view of the World. If you are looking for an answer, make sure you’re asking the right question. And if you want a suspension bridge, don’t Google for cats... © Neil Cowmeadow 2017
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The Thursday Thesis - 25/05/2017 “Beginning, Enduring” According to Nike founder Phil Knight, “The cowards never started, the weak fell along the way: all that’s left is you and I”. That’s his secret. Begin, keep going, and never stop. It’s so simple. Most people never even start on that big dream, believing it to be too hard or – more often – believing themselves to not be good enough. The weak do fall along the way, not recognising each fall as a way-marker or milestone on the journey. So that leaves you and me. If it is to be, it is up to us: we must bring about the change we want to see in the world. We must be unreasonable enough to doggedly pursue our dreams. And we must never, ever, ever, ever give up. So, today we get started, yes? © Neil Cowmeadow 2017
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The Thursday Thesis - 18/05/2017 “Why Being Sure is Stupid" The danger isn’t what you don’t know, it’s what you DO know that imperils you. These are some of the wisest words I’ve ever read. It means that being absolutely sure of what you know is a very dangerous position to find yourself in. The Scientific Method is the dominant theory we use to try to understand our world and what happens in, on and around us. Yet science presents no facts and makes no claim to absolute certainty, because that is not what science is for. That’s why ideas in science are called Theories, rather than facts. Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity isn’t called the Fact of Special Relativity. After all: it’s just a theory. And when all is said and done, theories are only the currently accepted explanations we have for phenomena. All theories are there to be attacked, tested, torn down and replaced with something better. That’s why it is what you DO know that imperils you: if you are so certain of what you know, there can be no search for better. If you are so sure that you have incontrovertible knowledge, the chances you’ll never even look for anything better. Dissent and the quest for better has given mankind the world we know today. Every innovation, every invention, and every new development has been a result of someone asking “what if...?” and looking for a better solution than the one they had. The very soul of progress is dissent, and constantly challenging one’s current thinking is what advances understanding and knowledge. So, if you look at your life and find it uninspiring, unhappy, unfulfilling or unsatisfactory in any way, just ask yourself what would be better than your current way of doing things. That's the Science of Happiness - it’s as simple as that. Keep asking the question and acting on your answers until you realise that there is nothing that would bring you more inspiration, happiness and fulfilment than you are currently experiencing. Ask better questions, and remember that what you know, right now, might be all that stands between you and a better tomorrow. Stay Curious. © Neil Cowmeadow 2017 Please Like and Share The Thursday ThoughtCast with your friends, family, and anyone else. I’d love to hear your comments, along with any ideas you’d care to hurl at me. Neil@cowtownguitars.net
The Thursday Thesis - 11/05/2017 “Oh, stop being such a wuss - I do it every day”, she said. “I’m a woman, and all women can multi-task, you know”. I asked her to stop the car. There was something terrifying about the way she held her coffee cup against the steering-wheel of the big 4x4 whilst she stroked lipstick onto those lusciously pouting lips, in between speaking on her phone. I got out of her Range Rover and walked away. She thought I was having a breakdown. “Multitasking” – don’t make me laugh. Throwing two tonnes of metal down the road at 50 miles per hour whilst balancing a cup of coffee, daubing war-paint and talking crap – all at the same time – speaks of someone out of control, rather than in control. Add to that arrogant mix the inconvenience of other road users: little crumple-zoned steel boxes and the soft bounciness of cyclists and pedestrians... It’s never going to go well, is it? It’s a little-known fact that multi-Tasking is a computing term, dating back to when machines started to be able to run more than one program at a time. But here’s the thing: they didn’t run more than one program at the same time. No, those early computers divided their processing capacity and shared out slices of time to their various tasks and programs; but because this happened so quickly, the machines seemed to be doing everything at once. So Multi-Tasking is a myth, especially as the term is misapplied to humans. For Multi-Tasking, read Multi-Distracted. If you want to get something done, FOCUS on that one thing. Take away all of the distractions and unrelated activities. If you’re going to drive, then drive – but your phone can wait. If you’re having dinner with your partner, have dinner with your partner – and don’t invite FaceBook to join you. If you’re with your kids, only be with your kids – because your emails will still be in your inbox after you’ve sung that lullaby. Many highly productive people attribute their success to their focus – on doing just one thing. Many of them wake up early to do their most important work before anyone else is awake and potential distractions aren’t getting started. Consequently, these folks have done half a day’s work before the world is even out of bed, let alone got its boots on. FOCUS gets it done. Just do One Thing. Do I miss Range Rover girl? Yes I do. And while she’ll be free in a few weeks, the little boy she crushed will never walk or talk again. His mom has given up her career to care for him. And Range Rover girl will be out of prison soon, she’ll be back out on the road again, Multi-Tasking. Makes you think, doesn’t it? © Neil Cowmeadow 2017 Please Like and Share The Thursday ThoughtCast with your friends, family, and anyone else.
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The Thursday Thesis - 04/05/2017
“Beware of The Men in White Coats”
“Beware of The Men in White Coats”
It’s a funny thing about psychopaths – they all think that they are completely normal and totally sane.
They would think that, though, wouldn’t they?
Oddly, doctors seem to think that they are completely normal and totally sane, too.
The American Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) currently lists over 450 mental illnesses or conditions.
Back in its first edition (DSM-1, published in 1952) there were only 106 listed disorders.
Unbelievably, one of the mental disorders listed was male homosexuality – which seems shocking these days. More surprising is that it took the American Mental Health industry until 1974 to remove that particular listing.
The Land of the Free?
Our American friends have been busy inventing labels and diagnoses for everything and everybody, so there’s no need for anyone to feel left out.
If you can’t sleep or you get jumpy after drinking too much coffee, there are serious-sounding syndromes and disorders available for you (Caffeine-induced anxiety disorder and Caffeine-induced sleep disorder, respectively).
If – like me – you prefer to sleep at a time of your own choosing, rather than what is considered “normal”, you can be given a diagnosis of a mental illness known as Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorder.
Congratulations - here, have a badge!
The thing is that mental health is highly subjective and diagnosis is often unreliable because there are no hard, clinical tests for mental illness.
So, if it’s not clinical testing and hard data, what’s driving the invention of these new conditions – other than the egos of “mental health professionals” handing out spurious diagnoses to anyone foolish enough to pass through their doors?
Are we getting more and more mentally ill, or are our doctors?
From my point of view I see a business model building a market.
Yes, I’m cynical about the global mental health business, its quack practitioners, and the massive pharmaceutical industry whose interests alone are served by making everybody eligible for their products.
Furthermore, I believe that we are being conned into powerlessness: gulled and deceived into believing that the answer lies in handing over responsibility for how we think and how we live to The Men (and Women) in White Coats.
I don’t believe that we need to be “treated”, medicated, cured, homogenised and normalised.
This is the same profession that has “treated” schizophrenia in countless thousands of people by imprisonment, which they call “sectioning”, since it sounds so much nicer.
This is the same profession that forcibly administers drugs to non-consenting patients – though “victims” seems more a accurate name for those unfortunate enough to be in their care.
This is the same profession that applied powerful electric shocks to the brains of their terrified victims.
It sounds exactly like torture, because it is torture.
And that’s what those bastards did to my mother.
And this is the same profession that thinks giving Ritalin to your kid is a good idea.
Perhaps I should tone-down my optimism a notch or two, just in case there’s a new syndrome that’s been invented for unacceptably happy people?
© Neil Cowmeadow 2017
Please Like and Share The Thursday ThoughtCast with your friends, family, and anyone else. I’d love to hear your comments, along with any ideas you’d care to hurl at me.
Neil@cowtownguitars.net
They would think that, though, wouldn’t they?
Oddly, doctors seem to think that they are completely normal and totally sane, too.
The American Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) currently lists over 450 mental illnesses or conditions.
Back in its first edition (DSM-1, published in 1952) there were only 106 listed disorders.
Unbelievably, one of the mental disorders listed was male homosexuality – which seems shocking these days. More surprising is that it took the American Mental Health industry until 1974 to remove that particular listing.
The Land of the Free?
Our American friends have been busy inventing labels and diagnoses for everything and everybody, so there’s no need for anyone to feel left out.
If you can’t sleep or you get jumpy after drinking too much coffee, there are serious-sounding syndromes and disorders available for you (Caffeine-induced anxiety disorder and Caffeine-induced sleep disorder, respectively).
If – like me – you prefer to sleep at a time of your own choosing, rather than what is considered “normal”, you can be given a diagnosis of a mental illness known as Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorder.
Congratulations - here, have a badge!
The thing is that mental health is highly subjective and diagnosis is often unreliable because there are no hard, clinical tests for mental illness.
So, if it’s not clinical testing and hard data, what’s driving the invention of these new conditions – other than the egos of “mental health professionals” handing out spurious diagnoses to anyone foolish enough to pass through their doors?
Are we getting more and more mentally ill, or are our doctors?
From my point of view I see a business model building a market.
Yes, I’m cynical about the global mental health business, its quack practitioners, and the massive pharmaceutical industry whose interests alone are served by making everybody eligible for their products.
Furthermore, I believe that we are being conned into powerlessness: gulled and deceived into believing that the answer lies in handing over responsibility for how we think and how we live to The Men (and Women) in White Coats.
I don’t believe that we need to be “treated”, medicated, cured, homogenised and normalised.
This is the same profession that has “treated” schizophrenia in countless thousands of people by imprisonment, which they call “sectioning”, since it sounds so much nicer.
This is the same profession that forcibly administers drugs to non-consenting patients – though “victims” seems more a accurate name for those unfortunate enough to be in their care.
This is the same profession that applied powerful electric shocks to the brains of their terrified victims.
It sounds exactly like torture, because it is torture.
And that’s what those bastards did to my mother.
And this is the same profession that thinks giving Ritalin to your kid is a good idea.
Perhaps I should tone-down my optimism a notch or two, just in case there’s a new syndrome that’s been invented for unacceptably happy people?
© Neil Cowmeadow 2017
Please Like and Share The Thursday ThoughtCast with your friends, family, and anyone else. I’d love to hear your comments, along with any ideas you’d care to hurl at me.
Neil@cowtownguitars.net
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The Thursday Thesis - 27/04/2017
“Beauty, Death, and The Angel’s Navel”
I asked Gianni what the dim orange lights were, down the hillside from the road that snaked up his home near to the funicular.
“Candles, in Staglieno” he answered. That seemed to be enough for him, and he fell silent.
I was (as usual) ready to display my ignorance and asked what Staglieno was; and so began a peculiar love affair, between a Brit abroad and The City of the Dead.
You see, Staglieno is a cemetery, and it is – for me – one of the World’s most beautiful places.
Built on the banks of the River Bisagno, its great walls enclose a vast complex of elaborate tombs and shrines, with a population comprising hundreds of statues.
And one statue in particular.
She stands in niche XIII of the Upper Western Arcade, sullenly staring out from the Oneto family tomb – a beautiful angel, complete with feather wings and flowing gown.
But there’s more to her than the usual angelic attributes: first, there’s the undeniable sensuality of her pose and the way her hips tilt forward.
Then there’s the cold intensity of her unerring gaze.
After that you can marvel at the apparent texture of her dress, hemmed with stars, and the perfection of those feathers.
And there’s the little thing which Monteverdi gave her that makes her so enigmatic and fascinating: she has a navel.
And that’s odd – given that angels are created directly by a supposed god...
That’s why she’s so fascinating – she’s a perfect angel with a fatal flaw.
Nobody is perfect, and – in many ways – it is our own lack of perfection that makes us who we are.
And It's the way that everyone is imperfect in different ways that make teaching such a pleasure.
Perfection is bland, sterile and anodyne: who would be daft enough to want to be that?
Here’s to our imperfections - every single one of ‘em - because that's what makes us interesting, special and unique.
See more of Staglieno here: www.staglieno.comune.genova.it/en/node/199
© Neil Cowmeadow 2017
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Neil@cowtownguitars.net
“Beauty, Death, and The Angel’s Navel”
I asked Gianni what the dim orange lights were, down the hillside from the road that snaked up his home near to the funicular.
“Candles, in Staglieno” he answered. That seemed to be enough for him, and he fell silent.
I was (as usual) ready to display my ignorance and asked what Staglieno was; and so began a peculiar love affair, between a Brit abroad and The City of the Dead.
You see, Staglieno is a cemetery, and it is – for me – one of the World’s most beautiful places.
Built on the banks of the River Bisagno, its great walls enclose a vast complex of elaborate tombs and shrines, with a population comprising hundreds of statues.
And one statue in particular.
She stands in niche XIII of the Upper Western Arcade, sullenly staring out from the Oneto family tomb – a beautiful angel, complete with feather wings and flowing gown.
But there’s more to her than the usual angelic attributes: first, there’s the undeniable sensuality of her pose and the way her hips tilt forward.
Then there’s the cold intensity of her unerring gaze.
After that you can marvel at the apparent texture of her dress, hemmed with stars, and the perfection of those feathers.
And there’s the little thing which Monteverdi gave her that makes her so enigmatic and fascinating: she has a navel.
And that’s odd – given that angels are created directly by a supposed god...
That’s why she’s so fascinating – she’s a perfect angel with a fatal flaw.
Nobody is perfect, and – in many ways – it is our own lack of perfection that makes us who we are.
And It's the way that everyone is imperfect in different ways that make teaching such a pleasure.
Perfection is bland, sterile and anodyne: who would be daft enough to want to be that?
Here’s to our imperfections - every single one of ‘em - because that's what makes us interesting, special and unique.
See more of Staglieno here: www.staglieno.comune.genova.it/en/node/199
© Neil Cowmeadow 2017
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Neil@cowtownguitars.net
The Thursday Thesis - 20/04/2017
“Birds of a Feather, and all That Jazz...”
It’s often said that “birds of a feather flock together” and it’s true.
But there are some birds which fly alone. These soloists are the hunters of the avian world, the eagles, falcons and hawks who rule the skies.
The proverb says that “the purpose of the hunter is to hunt”, to be committed to the pursuit of the prey – or the goal.
I think that these solitary hunting birds are beautiful, elegantly savage and rare.
And they are terrifying – if you’re a duck.
Ducks are the slow-moving types of birds that cluster together, each watching the other for clues about how they should behave.
Imagine a falcon on the wing, it’s hunt directed by a committee...
Ducks cluster, falcons swoop.
Eagles soar alone.
© Neil Cowmeadow 2017
I heartily recommend that you visit Chris Neale Falconry - you will never forget it.
http://chrisnealfalconry.co.uk/
“Birds of a Feather, and all That Jazz...”
It’s often said that “birds of a feather flock together” and it’s true.
But there are some birds which fly alone. These soloists are the hunters of the avian world, the eagles, falcons and hawks who rule the skies.
The proverb says that “the purpose of the hunter is to hunt”, to be committed to the pursuit of the prey – or the goal.
I think that these solitary hunting birds are beautiful, elegantly savage and rare.
And they are terrifying – if you’re a duck.
Ducks are the slow-moving types of birds that cluster together, each watching the other for clues about how they should behave.
Imagine a falcon on the wing, it’s hunt directed by a committee...
Ducks cluster, falcons swoop.
Eagles soar alone.
© Neil Cowmeadow 2017
I heartily recommend that you visit Chris Neale Falconry - you will never forget it.
http://chrisnealfalconry.co.uk/
Hear the Thesis |
The Thursday Thesis - 13/04/2017
“Is Your World full of Jerks...?”
Ever notice how certain people sail through life and seem to make friends everywhere, whilst other people you know seem to always be in conflict?
It happens. And just like me, you know who those people are, don’t you?
What’s going on – are they just unlucky and keep on bumping into jerks and idiots with “attitude”?
I don’t think so.
So what else could it be?
Well, people respond to us in the way we act towards them: it’s an evolutionary thing, caused by the vast number of “mirror neurones” that everyone has. Their purpose seems to be in generating empathy and understanding, but the flip side of that is a mirror of our behaviour.
So, if you’re encountering happy people everywhere – smiling at you and being helpful – chances are they are transmitting (Tx'ing) back to you exactly what they received (Rx'd) from you.
Because Tx = Rx
So smile and be positive today– just for research purposes – and see what happens.
The people you meet, and how they are with you, holds up a mirror to yourself.
Encountering jerks everywhere might be a clue...
© Neil Cowmeadow 2017
Please Like and Share The Thursday Thesis with your friends, family, your cat and anyone else. I’d love to hear your comments, along with any ideas you’d care to hurl at me.
Neil@cowtownguitars.net
“Is Your World full of Jerks...?”
Ever notice how certain people sail through life and seem to make friends everywhere, whilst other people you know seem to always be in conflict?
It happens. And just like me, you know who those people are, don’t you?
What’s going on – are they just unlucky and keep on bumping into jerks and idiots with “attitude”?
I don’t think so.
So what else could it be?
Well, people respond to us in the way we act towards them: it’s an evolutionary thing, caused by the vast number of “mirror neurones” that everyone has. Their purpose seems to be in generating empathy and understanding, but the flip side of that is a mirror of our behaviour.
So, if you’re encountering happy people everywhere – smiling at you and being helpful – chances are they are transmitting (Tx'ing) back to you exactly what they received (Rx'd) from you.
Because Tx = Rx
So smile and be positive today– just for research purposes – and see what happens.
The people you meet, and how they are with you, holds up a mirror to yourself.
Encountering jerks everywhere might be a clue...
© Neil Cowmeadow 2017
Please Like and Share The Thursday Thesis with your friends, family, your cat and anyone else. I’d love to hear your comments, along with any ideas you’d care to hurl at me.
Neil@cowtownguitars.net
Attraction through Intention...
The Thursday Thesis - 6/04/2017
“Google your Life...”
Ever notice how that thing you’ve been thinking about shows up in your life?
It just seems to appear - as if by magic – and you’ve probably had a similar experience to mine.
You see, when I was a teenager I wanted a Porsche 944. Back then, the closest I could get to owning one was to pin a picture of one on my bedroom wall.
Before long I started seeing Porsches all over the place.
It was odd, but it seems to be a universal principle. I won’t call it “The Law of Attraction”, because it’s not a Law at all – it’s just a Principle.
The Principle is that you get what you think about most of the time.
Google is just like that, too – you get what you search for, most of the time.
Both Google and you respond to their inputs, so control your inputs and make sure they are what you Intend to do, have or be in your life.
If you are open to possibility (see last week’s Thesis, if you haven’t already) then the things, people and situations you want will begin to show up.
Keep your mind ON what you want, and OFF what you don’t want. Remind yourself, every day, what you want and go get it.
The pictures on my wall have changed, but the Principle of Intention keeps on operating.
The Rules don’t Change, only our intentions.
© Neil Cowmeadow 2017
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Neil@cowtownguitars.net
The Thursday Thesis - 6/04/2017
“Google your Life...”
Ever notice how that thing you’ve been thinking about shows up in your life?
It just seems to appear - as if by magic – and you’ve probably had a similar experience to mine.
You see, when I was a teenager I wanted a Porsche 944. Back then, the closest I could get to owning one was to pin a picture of one on my bedroom wall.
Before long I started seeing Porsches all over the place.
It was odd, but it seems to be a universal principle. I won’t call it “The Law of Attraction”, because it’s not a Law at all – it’s just a Principle.
The Principle is that you get what you think about most of the time.
Google is just like that, too – you get what you search for, most of the time.
Both Google and you respond to their inputs, so control your inputs and make sure they are what you Intend to do, have or be in your life.
If you are open to possibility (see last week’s Thesis, if you haven’t already) then the things, people and situations you want will begin to show up.
Keep your mind ON what you want, and OFF what you don’t want. Remind yourself, every day, what you want and go get it.
The pictures on my wall have changed, but the Principle of Intention keeps on operating.
The Rules don’t Change, only our intentions.
© Neil Cowmeadow 2017
Please Like and Share The Thursday Thesis with your friends, family, your cat and anyone else. I’d love to hear your comments, along with any ideas you’d care to hurl at me.
Neil@cowtownguitars.net
Hear The Thesis |
The Thursday Thesis - 30/03/2017
“The Power of Focus, and a Brand-New Lens”
It’s a funny thing, you know, this life business. One day you think it’s all over and done, that all the good stuff has been taken, and the next day you stumble on something that opens your eyes up to new possibilities.
Of course, the possibilities have been waiting around, waiting to be discovered, for a while - but you weren’t ready to see them yesterday.
Every time we learn a new idea, skill, technique or approach we can use it to look at the World in a new way: sort-of like a lens.
Not only can our new “lens” broaden our field of view, it can also sharpen our ability to focus.
And the more lenses we have, the more problems we can see a way through.
We may test a number of lenses on a problem or situation, but – with time and persistence – we’ll suddenly find that everything snaps into sharp focus...
As I’ve learned more about the possibilities open to me as an entrepreneur I’ve begun to see opportunity everywhere.
It’s crazy – you learn a new thing and “boom!” you almost fall over the possibilities you can suddenly see.
Now is the time to focus on what is most important, to keep your ferocious attention on the Big Things that matter most to you, remembering the reason why you want to do them.
Keep on learning, keep on growing; try out a new lens and see if it changes your point of view.
Does the eye chart say “OPPORTUNITIES ARE NOWHERE” OR “OPPORTUNITIES ARE NOW HERE”?
No Peeking!
Please Like and Share The Thursday Thesis with your friends, family, visiting life-forms and anyone else. I’d love to hear your comments, along with any ideas you’d care to hurl at me.
Neil@cowtownguitars.net
“The Power of Focus, and a Brand-New Lens”
It’s a funny thing, you know, this life business. One day you think it’s all over and done, that all the good stuff has been taken, and the next day you stumble on something that opens your eyes up to new possibilities.
Of course, the possibilities have been waiting around, waiting to be discovered, for a while - but you weren’t ready to see them yesterday.
Every time we learn a new idea, skill, technique or approach we can use it to look at the World in a new way: sort-of like a lens.
Not only can our new “lens” broaden our field of view, it can also sharpen our ability to focus.
And the more lenses we have, the more problems we can see a way through.
We may test a number of lenses on a problem or situation, but – with time and persistence – we’ll suddenly find that everything snaps into sharp focus...
As I’ve learned more about the possibilities open to me as an entrepreneur I’ve begun to see opportunity everywhere.
It’s crazy – you learn a new thing and “boom!” you almost fall over the possibilities you can suddenly see.
Now is the time to focus on what is most important, to keep your ferocious attention on the Big Things that matter most to you, remembering the reason why you want to do them.
Keep on learning, keep on growing; try out a new lens and see if it changes your point of view.
Does the eye chart say “OPPORTUNITIES ARE NOWHERE” OR “OPPORTUNITIES ARE NOW HERE”?
No Peeking!
Please Like and Share The Thursday Thesis with your friends, family, visiting life-forms and anyone else. I’d love to hear your comments, along with any ideas you’d care to hurl at me.
Neil@cowtownguitars.net
Hear the Thesis |
The Thursday Thesis - 15/03/2017
“You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know...”
It used to be the case that what you don’t know can’t hurt you – but is it still true?
Personally, I don’t believe it any more.
Today I’m (once again) in a training suite, adding to what I learned during my last three days here - and I’m surrounded by fifty or so curious people.
For the record - when I call these guys “curious” I don’t mean odd or peculiar – they are the inquisitive kind of curious.
And the phrase I’ve heard most of all today is this: “You don’t know what you don’t know”.
I read it in a manual on investing, once, and thought it was a bit smug-sounding.
But today it resonates like a mighty church bell booming midnight strident through the frosted velvet blackness of the moonless night.
You don’t know what you don’t know...
Wow!
It’s easy to reach a point in your life that is comfortable and satisfactory – and then begin to coast along, believing that you know pretty-much all you need to know.
It’s easy and it’s dangerous, possibly fatal.
The moment you think you’ve got it made, and that you’ve achieved quite a lot, that’s the point where complacency begins to sneak in on you.
Comfort is the silent assassin of ambition and growth.
You’ve come so far, so you figure it’s probably ok to ease back a little...
You’re doing OK, so you figure it’ll be ok if you just ease back a little more...
The world changes forward forever, but now that you’re leaning back, you’ve begun to stand still.
And the old truths give way to the new Truths: wave upon wave of discoveries, insights and inventions lapping at the shores of our understanding.
Things change without you noticing whilst you keep doing what you’ve always done.
Over time, the gulf between what you knew that used to be true and the way things have become gets wider...
And you don’t know about it, because you’re content with what you already know.
But, even so, The Answers have still changed.
As long as you keep on knowing the things that used to be true, the things that are now true can’t find their way in to replace your Obsolete Truths.
So, what is it that you already know that stops you from knowing what you don’t know?
Today would be a great day to find out, wouldn’t it?
Once you accept that you don’t know everything, you can begin – today – to start to find out all you can about what interests or intrigues you.
What is it that you are curious about?
Go deep and immerse yourself, bathe in it, swim in it, breathe it in.
Soon you’ll be as curious as I am....
© Neil Cowmeadow 2017
Please Like and Share The Thursday Thesis with your friends, family, visiting life-forms and anyone else. I’d love to hear your comments, along with any ideas you’d care to hurl at me.
Neil@cowtownguitars.net
“You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know...”
It used to be the case that what you don’t know can’t hurt you – but is it still true?
Personally, I don’t believe it any more.
Today I’m (once again) in a training suite, adding to what I learned during my last three days here - and I’m surrounded by fifty or so curious people.
For the record - when I call these guys “curious” I don’t mean odd or peculiar – they are the inquisitive kind of curious.
And the phrase I’ve heard most of all today is this: “You don’t know what you don’t know”.
I read it in a manual on investing, once, and thought it was a bit smug-sounding.
But today it resonates like a mighty church bell booming midnight strident through the frosted velvet blackness of the moonless night.
You don’t know what you don’t know...
Wow!
It’s easy to reach a point in your life that is comfortable and satisfactory – and then begin to coast along, believing that you know pretty-much all you need to know.
It’s easy and it’s dangerous, possibly fatal.
The moment you think you’ve got it made, and that you’ve achieved quite a lot, that’s the point where complacency begins to sneak in on you.
Comfort is the silent assassin of ambition and growth.
You’ve come so far, so you figure it’s probably ok to ease back a little...
You’re doing OK, so you figure it’ll be ok if you just ease back a little more...
The world changes forward forever, but now that you’re leaning back, you’ve begun to stand still.
And the old truths give way to the new Truths: wave upon wave of discoveries, insights and inventions lapping at the shores of our understanding.
Things change without you noticing whilst you keep doing what you’ve always done.
Over time, the gulf between what you knew that used to be true and the way things have become gets wider...
And you don’t know about it, because you’re content with what you already know.
But, even so, The Answers have still changed.
As long as you keep on knowing the things that used to be true, the things that are now true can’t find their way in to replace your Obsolete Truths.
So, what is it that you already know that stops you from knowing what you don’t know?
Today would be a great day to find out, wouldn’t it?
Once you accept that you don’t know everything, you can begin – today – to start to find out all you can about what interests or intrigues you.
What is it that you are curious about?
Go deep and immerse yourself, bathe in it, swim in it, breathe it in.
Soon you’ll be as curious as I am....
© Neil Cowmeadow 2017
Please Like and Share The Thursday Thesis with your friends, family, visiting life-forms and anyone else. I’d love to hear your comments, along with any ideas you’d care to hurl at me.
Neil@cowtownguitars.net
Hear the Thesis |
The Thursday Thesis - 9/03/2017
“Your Brain’s Secret Defence against Irrelevence”...
Last week I promised to tell you about a clever trick our brains do and how to harness it to our own advantage.
It’s your brain’s ability to reject the vast majority of what comes streaming into it and to capture and draw to your attention the tiny amount of what we think is important from everything that goes on all around us.
Think about it: think of all the sights, smells, sounds, tastes and feelings that are hitting our senses at any time.
Feel how your right heel presses lightly into the back of your shoe?
Smell the perfume of the washing powder you laundered your clothes in?
Can you hear the whisper of your computer’s cooling fan?
Until I suggested that you should notice them, the chances are that you didn’t even notice those sensations.
That’s because our brains have a powerful filter on incoming information, and it’s set to reject what isn’t important.
It’s called the Reticular Activating System – the RAS, for short - and it’s a lot like a nightclub bouncer who politely tells you that your name isn’t on the list, so you can’t get in.
A well known example of the RAS in action is when you decide that you’d like to buy a particular new car – then you start to see that kind of car everywhere.
Your own thinking of purchasing the car gave it particular significance, so the RAS began allow the sighting to pass through your filters.
The RAS does its best, but - unless we direct it – our poor old RAS has no clue what it should filter out and what it should allow to pass.
That’s down to us.
Do we decide what we allow into our minds, or allow the RAS to pick-up on? Advertising, media, the endless streams of Bad News broadcast by Bad News Stations?
I think not – so I take care to remind my RAS that it should look for beauty, smiles, love and reasons to be grateful for my life.
I write – each morning – a few lines of what I am grateful for, my son, health, work that I love, the chance to grow, today.
As I do this I am programming my RAS with what I want more of, and that’s what I get – more of the good stuff.
Just suppose I was foolish enough to not even ask for more good stuff – what might I get instead?
All you have to do is ask...
© Neil Cowmeadow 2017
Please Like and Share The Thursday Thesis with your friends, family, your cat and anyone else. I’d love to hear your comments, along with any ideas you’d care to hurl at me.
Neil@cowtownguitars.net
“Your Brain’s Secret Defence against Irrelevence”...
Last week I promised to tell you about a clever trick our brains do and how to harness it to our own advantage.
It’s your brain’s ability to reject the vast majority of what comes streaming into it and to capture and draw to your attention the tiny amount of what we think is important from everything that goes on all around us.
Think about it: think of all the sights, smells, sounds, tastes and feelings that are hitting our senses at any time.
Feel how your right heel presses lightly into the back of your shoe?
Smell the perfume of the washing powder you laundered your clothes in?
Can you hear the whisper of your computer’s cooling fan?
Until I suggested that you should notice them, the chances are that you didn’t even notice those sensations.
That’s because our brains have a powerful filter on incoming information, and it’s set to reject what isn’t important.
It’s called the Reticular Activating System – the RAS, for short - and it’s a lot like a nightclub bouncer who politely tells you that your name isn’t on the list, so you can’t get in.
A well known example of the RAS in action is when you decide that you’d like to buy a particular new car – then you start to see that kind of car everywhere.
Your own thinking of purchasing the car gave it particular significance, so the RAS began allow the sighting to pass through your filters.
The RAS does its best, but - unless we direct it – our poor old RAS has no clue what it should filter out and what it should allow to pass.
That’s down to us.
Do we decide what we allow into our minds, or allow the RAS to pick-up on? Advertising, media, the endless streams of Bad News broadcast by Bad News Stations?
I think not – so I take care to remind my RAS that it should look for beauty, smiles, love and reasons to be grateful for my life.
I write – each morning – a few lines of what I am grateful for, my son, health, work that I love, the chance to grow, today.
As I do this I am programming my RAS with what I want more of, and that’s what I get – more of the good stuff.
Just suppose I was foolish enough to not even ask for more good stuff – what might I get instead?
All you have to do is ask...
© Neil Cowmeadow 2017
Please Like and Share The Thursday Thesis with your friends, family, your cat and anyone else. I’d love to hear your comments, along with any ideas you’d care to hurl at me.
Neil@cowtownguitars.net
Hear The Thesis |
The Thursday Thesis - 2/03/2017
“Love is more important than money...”
Anyone who tells you that is broke.
In fact, anyone who tells you something is not important, doesn’t have any of it.
Love is important, money is important, health is important: how we talk about it tells the world how we think about things.
If we don’t care about love, we’ll be starved of love.
When we say that money doesn’t matter, it’s highly unlikely that we have any.
If we say we don’t care about health, chances are we are not a well pig.
If we change how we talk about money, love, health or anything else, we will automatically change how we think about it, too. You see, at a deep level, our brains can’t tell the inner world from the outside world – fantasy from reality: however we think about things, then that’s the way they are for us.
Ever wonder why two people can look at something and get totally different impressions?
That’s why one person sees the work of God (NB: other gods are available, see terms and conditions) and the other person might see evolution in progress, when they look at the same creature, together.
If you think Love is bad, you’ll figure out a way to get rid of it.
Same goes for money, health, friends, or family.
If you want any of those things – or anything else - recognise their value to you, and keep in touch with whatever it is you want.
How do you get more of what you want?
Pay attention to it.
Spend time caring for it.
Nurture and grow it.
But first decide what you want.
Next week I’ll look at another clever trick your mind does every day – without you even thinking about it – it’s awesome, and you can learn how to harness its power to change your life.
“Love is more important than money...”
Anyone who tells you that is broke.
In fact, anyone who tells you something is not important, doesn’t have any of it.
Love is important, money is important, health is important: how we talk about it tells the world how we think about things.
If we don’t care about love, we’ll be starved of love.
When we say that money doesn’t matter, it’s highly unlikely that we have any.
If we say we don’t care about health, chances are we are not a well pig.
If we change how we talk about money, love, health or anything else, we will automatically change how we think about it, too. You see, at a deep level, our brains can’t tell the inner world from the outside world – fantasy from reality: however we think about things, then that’s the way they are for us.
Ever wonder why two people can look at something and get totally different impressions?
That’s why one person sees the work of God (NB: other gods are available, see terms and conditions) and the other person might see evolution in progress, when they look at the same creature, together.
If you think Love is bad, you’ll figure out a way to get rid of it.
Same goes for money, health, friends, or family.
If you want any of those things – or anything else - recognise their value to you, and keep in touch with whatever it is you want.
How do you get more of what you want?
Pay attention to it.
Spend time caring for it.
Nurture and grow it.
But first decide what you want.
Next week I’ll look at another clever trick your mind does every day – without you even thinking about it – it’s awesome, and you can learn how to harness its power to change your life.
© Neil Cowmeadow 2017
Please Like and Share The Thursday Thesis with your friends, family, your cat and anyone else. I’d love to hear your comments, along with any ideas you’d care to hurl at me.
Neil@cowtownguitars.net
Please Like and Share The Thursday Thesis with your friends, family, your cat and anyone else. I’d love to hear your comments, along with any ideas you’d care to hurl at me.
Neil@cowtownguitars.net
Hear the Thesis.... |
The Thursday Thesis - 16/2/2017
“A Defence of Focus and Unreasonable Interest”
She told me I was obsessed as though it was a bad thing: that’s when I knew it was over.
This beautiful woman had missed the point, but it was hardly surprising.
You see, Obsession gets a bad press.
For decades, Obsession has been demonised in the media and turned into a disorder by doctors.
The negative spin on Obsession is overt and pervasive. For example, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines an obsession as “a persistent disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea or feeling; broadly: compelling motivation”.
Disturbing?
Unreasonable?
Nope – my vote goes to the last two words.
Though they look like a footnote, the words “compelling motivation” seem to be the real definition of an obsession: the object of an obsession is so irresistibly interesting, so fascinating, that it displaces almost everything else.
Now, it seems to me that the ability to sharpens one’s focus to such an extent is a very positive skill for anyone to have.
Think about it like this: a magnifying glass can concentrate the sun’s power into a tiny spot and produce very high temperatures, whereas the same sunlight – unfocused – might raise the temperature of a larger area by a couple of degrees.
Likewise, a nail focuses the energy of a swinging hammerhead into a tiny point - penetrating the hardest timber, where the hammer would produce a slight dent.
Throughout history, great achievers have been obsessive about their callings, interests, or ambitions. Shouldn’t we celebrate obsession, rather than revile it?
They call him “Alexander The Great”, not “Alexander the Work-Life Balanced” – the clue is in the name, isn’t it?
Could you imagine Churchill taking time off during The Blitz to find his “Work-Life Balance”?
Don’t make me laugh.
As we are so often encouraged not to be unreasonable or extreme, so often urged to “find Balance” in our lives, I believe that we are being lulled into the greyness of conforming to a bland normality.
In the ideal beige world of the Balanced and Normal people everything is average, and the acceptable normal will be enforced by the thought-police and the quackery of the psychiatric profession.
Obsession makes me think of a life lived more ferociously, more vividly and more passionately than an average and normal life. It’s like your favourite song, cranked to full volume and set to repeat: it never gets tired, and you keep on dancing.
That’s Obsession.
I encourage you, right now, to get obsessive: to be unreasonably interested, to become preoccupied with what fascinates you, and to give the beige eternity of “Balance” The Finger.
“Balance” is what you have when you are becalmed, stupefied or tranquilised.
“Balance” can go screw itself – give me a magnificent Obsession any day of the week.
© Neil Cowmeadow 2017
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“A Defence of Focus and Unreasonable Interest”
She told me I was obsessed as though it was a bad thing: that’s when I knew it was over.
This beautiful woman had missed the point, but it was hardly surprising.
You see, Obsession gets a bad press.
For decades, Obsession has been demonised in the media and turned into a disorder by doctors.
The negative spin on Obsession is overt and pervasive. For example, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines an obsession as “a persistent disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea or feeling; broadly: compelling motivation”.
Disturbing?
Unreasonable?
Nope – my vote goes to the last two words.
Though they look like a footnote, the words “compelling motivation” seem to be the real definition of an obsession: the object of an obsession is so irresistibly interesting, so fascinating, that it displaces almost everything else.
Now, it seems to me that the ability to sharpens one’s focus to such an extent is a very positive skill for anyone to have.
Think about it like this: a magnifying glass can concentrate the sun’s power into a tiny spot and produce very high temperatures, whereas the same sunlight – unfocused – might raise the temperature of a larger area by a couple of degrees.
Likewise, a nail focuses the energy of a swinging hammerhead into a tiny point - penetrating the hardest timber, where the hammer would produce a slight dent.
Throughout history, great achievers have been obsessive about their callings, interests, or ambitions. Shouldn’t we celebrate obsession, rather than revile it?
They call him “Alexander The Great”, not “Alexander the Work-Life Balanced” – the clue is in the name, isn’t it?
Could you imagine Churchill taking time off during The Blitz to find his “Work-Life Balance”?
Don’t make me laugh.
As we are so often encouraged not to be unreasonable or extreme, so often urged to “find Balance” in our lives, I believe that we are being lulled into the greyness of conforming to a bland normality.
In the ideal beige world of the Balanced and Normal people everything is average, and the acceptable normal will be enforced by the thought-police and the quackery of the psychiatric profession.
Obsession makes me think of a life lived more ferociously, more vividly and more passionately than an average and normal life. It’s like your favourite song, cranked to full volume and set to repeat: it never gets tired, and you keep on dancing.
That’s Obsession.
I encourage you, right now, to get obsessive: to be unreasonably interested, to become preoccupied with what fascinates you, and to give the beige eternity of “Balance” The Finger.
“Balance” is what you have when you are becalmed, stupefied or tranquilised.
“Balance” can go screw itself – give me a magnificent Obsession any day of the week.
© Neil Cowmeadow 2017
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Neil@cowtownguitars.net
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The Thursday Thesis - 26/01/201
“Why 8 Hours Might Not be a Recipe for Rest”
Personally, I have always been resentful of my need to sleep.
There seems to be no real reason for it, and it interrupts me when I’m chasing down the subject of my fascination – or obsession – if you like.
I’ll ponder obsession at some future date, I’m sure, but – for now, at least – there’s the tedious business of sleep to think about.
More specifically, how to optimise sleep instead of the usual, random “go to sleep when I can’t keep my eyes open a moment longer” or the “eight solid hours” approaches.
Firstly, it’s vital to understand the sleep cycle. Research tells us that sleep is not uniform, and that it varies in depth and effect over repeating cycles, each lasting around 90-minutes. Being woken from the very deepest sleep state can leave us feeling dreadful – still tired and disoriented, even if we have been asleep for a long time.
But we are closest to waking-up at the end of each 90-minute cycle, so it’s a great idea to plan your sleep to be a certain number of sleep cycles, whether that be 4.5, 6 or 7.5 hours.
Notice that the traditional 8-hour sleep will mean waking up 20 minutes or so into a cycle – a deep state – which make us feel grotty.
So it’s often better to sleep a part-cycle less, rather than to sleep for part of an extra cycle: bizarrely, six hours of sleep can leave us feeling better than seven hours, due to the sleep state we are woken from.
It’s a terrific idea to have a pre-sleep ritual, too, as this prepares you for a decent night’s sleep.
The rules for an excellent pre-sleep ritual are:
No coffee for two hours before bed. I hate this rule. Caffeine is a stimulant – the last thing we need at bedtime.
No food for two hours before bed. Food speeds-up your metabolism – the opposite of what happens when we sleep, so there’s a conflict of metabolic drivers. Incidentally, dairy produce contains naturally-occurring morphine-group chemicals (lactomorphines) that can cause vivid dreams and/or nightmares.
Dim the lights for at least 45 minutes before bedtime. Low light (preferably red/orange light) stimulates the release of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin – which is also associated with brain well-being.
No technology for at least 60 minutes before bed. Smartphones, laptops and TV screens all emit high levels of blue-spectrum light, which tricks our brains into thinking it is daylight, inhibiting melatonin production.
No TV in the bedroom, and no reading, either. Keep the bedroom sacred for sleep – you’re then telling yourself “I’m in my bedroom – what I do here is sleep.....”
Clean sheets - These reassure you that everything is clean and safe, so you relax much better.
Get the right pillow height. Too-high or too-low pillows can cause us to hold tension in our necks as we sleep, disturbing our rest.
Get a proper mattress. When you choose, remember that calling a mattress “Orthopaedic” doesn’t mean anything – it’s just a marketing word. The best mattress for you is one that supports you reasonably firmly but which does not sag or leave you feeling that you are perched right on top of it.
Stay cool. Your body temperature dips during sleep, so don’t overdo the Tog rating of your duvet. Avoid all-night electric blankets, too, and turn down any thermostats in your bedroom.
There are also some rituals that can help us to enjoy our waking-up time, too – for example:
A sunrise alarm clock, such as those made by Lumie. These devices gradually fade-up the light in a simulated sunrise, sounding an alarm beep once full illumination has been reached. I’m usually awake before the beep, and I’d describe the gentle sunrise alarm as being kissed awake, rather than being kicked awake by more conventional alarms. I do also set a backstop alarm clock, just in case!
Power-up the day with an espresso coffee and a light breakfast of nutritious food. I avoid cereals (except oats/porridge) as they are invariably laden with sugar, which has well-documented chronic poison effects. Yes – sugar is a toxin, and it’s been proven and well-known since the 70’s.
Get a little exercise. Run if you can, walk if you can’t: ride a bike or pump some iron – do something that kick-starts your metabolism.
A refreshing shower is a great way to start the day. Feeling clean is a great boost to our self-esteem, and we can step out in confidence, knowing that we don’t smell kinda peculiar...
© Neil Cowmeadow 2017
Please Like and Share The Thursday Thesis with your friends, family, your cat and anyone else. I’d love to hear your comments, along with any ideas you’d care to hurl at me.
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It's Like This...
The Thursday Thesis shares ideas which I think are worth spreading.
I'm Neil Cowmeadow, the Guitar Teacher and Guitar Technician, based near Telford, Shropshire.
My aim is to share some of the discoveries and cool stuff that took me a lifetime to learn - so you don't have to replicate the effort.
Along the way, I'm also going to debunk the mountains of nonsense and pretentious claptrap that put people off playing music, writing songs, and having more fun in their lives.
Along the way, some of these posts might challenge your assumptions and ideas.
Pick up a nugget of cool stuff, here, and throw it into the waters of your life.
The ripples you'll create will spread outwards...
I may also wander off into politics, literature, or any other place I damn-well please, but if you're cool with that, read on....
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